CSU Trustees Chair Hauck To Discuss Progress on Priorities
as Chancellor Reed Begins His Third Year

When California State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed assumed leadership
of the CSU in March 1998, he and the Trustees agreed on several CSU priorities,
including increasing resources, ensuring access for students, improving
teacher preparation, reducing the need for remedial education, increasing
accountability and partnering with the K-12 system. As Chancellor Reed
begins his third year at the CSU, Trustees Chair William Hauck will discuss
at the Trustees meeting on March 15 the progress made on CSU priorities
during the last two years.

"It's important to identify a few critical priorities and focus efforts
in those areas. Under Chancellor Reed's leadership, the CSU Board of Trustees
has done that, and we are on target," said Hauck. "The CSU is in very
good shape, and it has been a team effort among Trustees, presidents,
the chancellor, and our faculty, staff and students. We have made significant
progress and will continue to do so in this new decade.

"We have worked together to ensure student access to a high quality education
at a time when the CSU enrollment is growing tremendously. CSU resources
have increased through stronger budgets. A significant part of those funds
over the past two years has been the $113 million the CSU has used to
reduce the faculty salary gap from 11.2 to 8.9 percent. Finally, we have
developed relationships with the Governor's Office and the legislature,
and we continue to tell the CSU story effectively. That is paying dividends
for our students, faculty and staff," Hauck concluded.

The following updates the progress made on CSU priorities in the past
two years:

Increasing Resources

Over the last two years, the CSU has received a more than 22 percent
increase in its general fund budget, the highest two-year total since
the mid-1980's.

For 2000/01, the Governor has recommended an additional increase of 10
percent.

The CSU is close to reaching a Higher Education Partnership with the
Governor that would provide stable funding over a long-term period. Part
of the partnership involves CSU accountability measures closely aligned
with Cornerstones, the systemwide planning framework for CSU's future.

The CSU secured and allocated a total of $113 million for a faculty compensation
increase of 5.7 percent in 1998/99 and six percent in 1999/00 for a two-year
total of 11.7 percent, the highest two-year increase since 1987. That
figure includes an additional $19.5 million for a 2 percent faculty compensation
supplement last year.

The CSU secured in 1998 about $829 million through a bond act for capital
projects including technology upgrades and new facilities so more students
can attend the CSU.

In addition to state funding, the CSU has raised more than $1.5 billion
in external funding over the past two years, including a record $860.5
million in 1998/99.

Ensuring Access for Students

The CSU is expecting an increase of about 130,000 additional students
entering the system over the next ten years, and has several initiatives
in place to ensure access to all qualified students. Over the past five
years enrollment at the CSU has grown by about 40,000 students.

One initiative to ensure student access is to move toward more flexible
scheduling. That includes not only more courses in the summer but also
at night, on weekends and at other less traditional times. The CSU will
begin state supported year-round operations at those campuses and in those
academic programs where student demand is beginning to exceed capacity
for instruction during the traditional academic year. The CSU began a
planning process on ten campuses this year to identify impacted programs
and adapt courses and support systems to a summer schedule. Year-round
operations will not force faculty or students to attend classes in the
summer, but rather provide more opportunities for those with that preference.

Within the past two years the CSU has increased resources and obtained
property to increase access for students at off-campus centers at Channel
Islands and Coachella Valley.

The CSU this year consulted all CSU constituencies and developed long-term
enrollment management policies to ensure local access to higher education
for CSU-qualified students to continue CSU's mission as defined by the
California Master Plan for Higher Education.

Usage of CSUMentor, the online system that helps students and their families
plan and apply for admission to the CSU, has quadrupled in the last year.
More than 50 percent of CSU applications are now received online, and
more than a quarter of a million high school students have established
portfolios at the CSU to track their academic progress.

Improving Teacher Preparation

California will need an additional 300,000 new teachers over the next
ten years, and nearly 30,000 teachers in the state are currently employed
with emergency permits or waivers. As the producer of 60 percent of the
state's teachers, the CSU shoulders much of the responsibility for improving
both the quality and quantity of California teachers.

Chancellor Reed worked with U.S. Senators Feinstein and Boxer and U.S.
Secretary of Education Dick Riley to extend federal Pell Grant assistance
to California's financially needy, fifth-year teaching students. Since
these students are post-baccalaureate students, they were not previously
eligible for federal grant aid.

In 1999 -- a year ahead of schedule -- the CSU met the Board of Trustees
goal of increasing by 25 percent the number of teachers it annually recommends
for credentials.

CSU enrollment in teacher preparation increased by 50 percent to more
than 14,000 students from the fall of 1996 to the fall of 1998.

CalStateTEACH, an 18-month program that combines distance education and
face-to-face interaction for working teachers seeking their credentials,
began last fall and expanded this semester to include about 300 participants.

CalTeach, a one-stop information, recruitment and referral center for
individuals interested in teaching careers, launched the first-ever statewide
paid television advertising campaign to recruit teachers for public schools.
Last year their website received 3.5 million hits. This year, the governor
has proposed increasing the CalTeach budget by $9 million.

Every CSU campus within the past two years has reviewed and begun simplifying
the admissions process for students.

By next year, every campus will have revised its curriculum to offer
a blended program so students can begin learning about teaching earlier
in their academic careers.

Reducing the Need for Remedial Education

About 94 percent of fall 1998 freshmen who needed remedial education
and returned as sophomores were proficient in mathematics and English.

In combination with other support, campuses are now: providing inservice
training for high school teachers to clarify and align CSU and school
standards; developing more effective English and mathematics teaching
methods; administering and interpreting diagnostic testing; and providing
trained CSU student tutors who will work with high school students to
strengthen their basic English and mathematics proficiency skills.

The CSU allocated $9 million in 1999/00 to campuses to establish or expand
outreach efforts to 223 public high schools that send the CSU the most
students in need of remedial education.

Last fall, the percentage of incoming students needing remedial education
leveled off at 54 percent for mathematics and 47 percent for English.
An update on fall 1999 freshmen will be given at the Trustees meeting
on March 14. It is expected that those numbers will decrease for the first
time since the CSU began tracking them.

Partnering with the K-12

Chancellor Reed worked with the CSU presidents, key members of the U.S.
Congress and U.S. Secretary of Education Dick Riley to secure more than
$8 million in federal funding for CSU campuses to partner with school
districts in GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate
Programs).

Every campus has increased partnerships with K-12 schools as evidenced
by more than 475 teacher-intern agreements across the state, 21 teacher
aid programs and systemwide participation in the on-site inservice preparation
of middle school math teachers.

Last summer the CSU and the University of California provided workshops
on how to better teach reading and math for 6,000 current teachers. The
CSU hosted about two-thirds of the workshops.

The CSU distributed 80,000 posters to high schools and middle schools
statewide with step-by-step instructions about the courses students need
to complete to enroll at the CSU.

Increasing Accountability

In March 1999 the Board of Trustees adopted the Cornerstones Implementation
Plan culminating a three-year planning effort involving a wide range of
faculty, administrators, students and Trustees. This plan outlines an
agenda for action over the next decade, including: providing recommendations
for ensuring access; highlighting the quality of programs and faculty;
and improving the rate at which students earn the bachelor's degree through
better transfer procedures, remedial education, school outreach efforts,
and active student learning. Other recommendations address postbaccalaureate
and graduate education and the more creative use of the extended education
function.

In November 1999 the CSU Trustees adopted a formal accountability process
through which the CSU reports annually about results that are important
and identifiable to the public. The accountability process calls for annual
reports on: student achievement and satisfaction; quality of teaching
and support services; administrative effectiveness; service to the community;
impact on the state's economy; alumni, employee, faculty, and staff satisfaction;
access to the CSU; articulation and transfer of students; graduation rates;
teacher education; relations with the K-12 system; remediation rates;
use of facilities; university advancement; and contributions to community
and society.

By being more efficient, the CSU has surpassed in each of the past two
years its goal of redirecting $10 million to educational services to provide
more resources for students. One example is expanding distance education
opportunities for students wanting these courses. Another example is an
agreement with Enron Energy Services (EES) and the University of California
in which Enron is the sole provider of electricity to most of the CSU
and UC campuses, resulting in estimated savings of about $15 million over
four years for both systems.

The chancellor has emphasized commitment and accountability for strengthening
CSU's system of shared governance and collegiality. Over the past year,
significant progress has been made to involve faculty earlier in agenda
setting and more closely and interactively with administration in carrying
out its advisory function. These efforts will be evaluated as part of
the annual accountability process.